Players look back at 70-10

Published: Tuesday, October 07, 2008

DON WILLIAMS

Brandon Carter was on his official recruiting visit to Texas Tech the last time Nebraska played a football game in Lubbock. Carter already had pledged to the Red Raiders a few months before, but seeing them whip the Cornhuskers 70-10 let Carter feel good about his decision.

Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and safety Darcel McBath, now fifth-year seniors, were first-semester freshmen when the Raiders dealt the Cornhuskers a loss for the ages on Oct. 9, 2004.

"I was sitting in the stands, but I remember it was pretty bad,'' McBath said Monday. "I don't expect anything like that to happen to them very much or even again. That was an accomplishment by us.''

McBath, watching from the bleachers with other redshirts, recalls being wowed by receiver Jarrett Hicks, who caught touchdown passes of 22 and 80 yards that night.

"I was like, I hope I get to play while he's around,' '' McBath remembers thinking. "Our team did a great job on offense and defense. Something like that definitely makes you excited to play for your team, beating a team who everybody in the country knows like Nebraska.''

Nebraska, which is back in town for a 2 p.m. game Saturday, set school records for points allowed and margin of defeat that night four years ago. The Cornhuskers, who won two national championships in the 1970s under Bob Devaney and three in the 1990s under Tom Osborne, have never recovered.

They even rewrote the school record for points allowed with a 76-39 loss at Kansas late last season. Just last week, the Cornhuskers were pounded 52-17 by Missouri as the Tigers scored their first win in Lincoln in 30 years.

In the 2004 game at Jones AT&T Stadium, Tech led only 21-10 at halftime. But with Nebraska throwing five interceptions and losing two fumbles, the rout got out of hand.

The 70-10 debacle was game six in the Nebraska coaching tenure of Bill Callahan, who was fired last November after his second losing season in four years. Nebraska had a 10-3 team the year before Callahan took over.

"There was a lot of anticipation, excitement. We felt like it was an important game for us,'' Tech coach Mike Leach said. "We kind of got on a roll and were lucky enough to get a bunch of turnovers that turned into more points. The score was that high partially because of how many times they turned it over. Maybe we'll get lucky enough to get a bunch of turnovers this time, too, so we'll see.''

In hindsight, three national titles in quick succession - 1994, 1995 and 1997 - probably put in place a ridiculously high expectation level that set off the chains of event leading to the downward spiral. Osborne's successor Frank Solich, the head coach from 1998 to 2003, went 58-19 with four seasons of double-digit wins in his last five years. He coached Nebraska to the Big 12 title in 1999 and to a loss in the 2001 season's BCS title game, the Rose Bowl.

Former athletic director Steve Pederson axed him, too.

Leach said it's too easy to say that Solich's ouster is the sole reason for the Huskers' fall.

"Way back in the day, you didn't have to worry nearly as much about Missouri on that side of the (conference) or Kansas,'' Leach said. "A lot of those (North Division) teams have emerged. Then you combine the Big 12 with all that, and you've got Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech figuring into that deal. That's added to it.

"The other thing that needs to be considered is you have the additional teams having success recruiting very aggressively, so it all adds up. It's just a constant battle to stay on top.''

To some, though, it's hard to look at Nebraska and not remember what the red "N'' on the white helmet signifies.

Harrell figures new coach Bo Pelini will revitalize the program. Pelini helped coordinate Oklahoma's defense in 2004 and LSU's the last three years.

"Obviously he's a great coach, just (looking at) his track record,'' Harrell said. "With his defenses at previous spots, he knows what he's doing. He's going to bring them back and they're going to be a program like they've been in the past before long.''